Is Blended Learning Here to Stay? Public Administration Education in Romania

Abstract

So far Covid-19 has brought serious turbulences to the higher education system be it in the form of substantial drops in research founding and international student enrolments or increases in expenses associated with digital solutions for teaching and learning, as well as funding for bridging social gaps between different categories of learners. However, while building on existent scholarship, the authors look at the Covid-19 crisis as an important contextual factor for integrating more practical skills in the public administration curriculum in Romania. This article compares the Romanian expectations of public administration academics with those of the practitioners and question whether a blended approach to teaching public administration might prove beneficial to preparing more adaptable and autonomous (future) civil servants. Data collected from interviews with practitioners in public administration and a survey among public administration students is expected to indicate a potential positive correlation between blendedlearning and development of transversal competencies associated to and necessary for “the craft of public administration”.